Love At First Error
by kaitothegreat
Summary: Alright. It wasn't exactly Aoko's fault. If this Kuroba Kaito didn't look so similar to someone she knew, maybe she wouldn't have slapped him, splashed his beer on his face and tore his perfect shirt apart. AU
1. Chapter 1

Love At First Error (1/2)

Alright. It wasn't exactly Aoko's fault. If this Kuroba Kaito didn't look so similar to someone she knew, maybe she wouldn't have slapped him, splashed his beer on his face and tore his perfect shirt apart. AU

* * *

There were only two ways for a woman to have the authority and charisma to pull off a beautiful exit on a man by splashing a glass of beer right in his face.

One, you got to be cool and sane in the head.

Two, there must be a good reason for the man to suffer such shame.

Nakamori Aoko had none of the above.

Not just that. Before she even played out her supposedly _great_ exit, she had glamorized her grand entrance by sending a tight slap across the man's cheek first.

"What the heck-?"

She also scripted some memorable lines.

"You're a despicable mustard!"

Aoko slammed the now-empty glass back on the bar counter, smirking at the sight of shock embracing the man's features. He glanced up, dumbfounded and mouth hung open as trails of liquid continuously flowed down his face and dripping onto his shirt and pants. The woman he was flirting with, so openly and idiotically, was long gone.

"What the heck are you doing?" He growled finished his sentence.

"That's for cheating on your wife!" Aoko yelled, pulling his beer-stained shirt and began to continuously shake his damp collar up and down, in a not-so-coincidental attempt of strangling him. A button popped and fell to the ground. "You mustard! Stinky, yellow mustard that everyone hates!"

Everyone possessed one face, yet he'd displayed more wild and frenzy emotions that Aoko couldn't catch in a blink. "Since when the hell am I married-!"

"How dare you!" Aoko screamed. "How dare you say that! Scumbag mustard!"

" _Aoko!_ " Out of nowhere, Keiko suddenly appeared behind Aoko and exclaimed out in pure horror. "I just went to the bathroom for three minutes and- What the hell are you doing?!"

"Great!" The cheater snapped. "Your friend had went bonkers."

Keiko's entrance stunned Aoko silent for a second as the former began pulling Aoko's arm. The cheater did his part and shoved her hands aside, but that was the trigger point to cause Aoko's switch to flip again. She wasn't going to show that she was an easy pushover.

"Kudo Shinichi!" Aoko shrugged out of Keiko's grip and jabbed a finger right into his chest. "I am the witness of your adultery! You cheater! You can't get away with this!"

He scowled, brows nearly merging together. "I'm _not_ Kudo Shinichi. I'm Kuroba Kaito," he spat out loud. "You crazy _drunk terminator_."

Aoko squinted her eyes in suspicion. "Who the hell is Kuroba Kaito?"

"Your's truly!" He snarled before giving a disbelieving look.

A short distance away, a voice from the crowd called out. "Nakamori-san."

The alcohol, shouting and tugging were all starting to exhaust Aoko's energy. Her world was beginning to spin in circles as Aoko felt herself stumble back, but her arm was luckily caught by Keiko just in time before she collided into the counter chair and fell onto the ground. All the voices and judging murmurs were pounding loudly in her head, but the gentle voice that called out her name...

"Why are there two Kudo Shinichi?" Aoko purred as she pointed at the fourth person who made his entrance and daringly stood a feet away from the commotion. The rest of the onlookers were watching from afar, afraid of being dragged inside the drama.

"Nakamori-san?" The new Shinichi, who was smartly dressed and had a much neater hairstyle slowly breathed out her name like he'd just watched a lion fart out clouds. His confused blue eyes scrutinized her up and down before turning to look at the other _Shinichi_. "Kaito. Why are you drenched? What the hell is going on?"

"You know this drunk terminator?"

"You know this mustard?"

"What the hell is going on?" Keiko echoed the same sentence that had been said for the umpteenth time.

It was a lost case.

Years later, looking back at all the mess and brutal mistakes Aoko made that night, she had come to realize two things.

One, always ask for the name of the possible cheater first before proceeding to slap, splash the beer at his face and tear his shirt apart.

Two, this was just the start of her long saga of falling in love with Kuroba Kaito.

.o.

 _"He likes blue."_

Aoko sighed. She tucked her phone in between her cheek and shoulder as she fumbled around with the hangers before pulling out a azure blue pressed shirt from the clothing rack. She flipped it around and checked the size. As if fate was helping her, it was the one she wanted.

"Are you sure about the size?" Aoko skeptically said to the phone. With her luck these days, believing this good coincidence to be true was plain naivety.

 _"Yeap. No worries about that."_ Ran chuckled. _"You've got it?"_

"I guess so." Aoko took her phone and headed to the counter to pay. The cashier greeted her and Aoko mouthed the word _gift wrap_ while preparing to take out her cash from her purse, ready for payment. There was another cashier attending to a lady customer right beside Aoko's counter and doing the similar gift-wrapping service, but for a fancy leather belt.

 _"I should've introduced you to him earlier."_ The melodic laughter would've caused many men's head to turn, but to Aoko's ear, they were a terror.

"No thanks, really." Aoko scoffed. "I have enough trouble on hand."

 _"He's a nice guy, honestly."_ Ran chirped. _"It's just a bad first meeting-"_

"And nothing could ever change it," Aoko groaned out loud and the cashier looked up at her with a concerned gaze. She gave a meek smile before whispering harshly into the phone. "Look, I'm just going to give him the shirt and that's it. The end."

 _"Is the shirt expensive anyway?"_

Aoko stared at the price tag as the cashier snipped it off and set it aside. If that was the cost of Aoko's new clothes, it was indeed worth an amount that she would spend an entire day thinking about before purchasing, but it wasn't like she couldn't afford it anyway. Besides, this wasn't about wanting or not. It was a necessity to buy it as a repayment for what she did. She closed her eyes, gritting her teeth as she inwardly tried to burn the images of the night from her mind.

 _"I guess the silence is a yes?"_ The brilliant wife of modern Sherlock Holmes said.

"It's nothing much." Aoko half-admitted.

 _"I'll treat you dinner soon,"_ Ran said, though there was a soft snicker that Aoko was sure she didn't hear wrongly. _"Although it was a misunderstanding, everything happened because you thought that Kaito was actually Shinichi and you stepped out to stop his flirting for me."_

After the gift was nearly finished wrapping, the cashier then took out a piece of small, palm-sized card from under the table and gestured politely at it towards Aoko. Knowing that she had to be interrupted, she covered her phone and gave her fullest attention to the cashier as the latter smiled and spoke.

"This a free complimentary greeting card, do you wish to write anything in it?"

"Uh," Aoko sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth. Might as well show her full sincerity if she was going to do it. She plucked a pen beside the cash register and briefly wrote _Sorry about your shirt_ and handed it to the cashier. Aoko returned back to her phone.

"I can't wait for the dinner, but not for _that_ reason." Aoko snorted. "Just a good ol' meet up as we reminisced about our college years."

Ran laughed again, one that Aoko found it much comforting to hear this time round. _"That's sounds great too."_

"I'll call you again." Aoko said as she took the carrier bag with her gift wrapped shirt and card inside. The lady who made the purchase the same time as Aoko also received her items as they both walked out of the door in sync. "I'm going to meet that guy soon." Aoko grumpily added.

 _"His name is Kaito."_ Ran reminded.

"Thanks a lot. I'm actually trying not to remember."

After Aoko ended the conversation, she made her way towards the cafe just one floor below the boutique shop she just came out from. There was no way Aoko had planned all of this. Shinichi was the messenger between her and Kaito and under Ran's persuasion and suggestion, they _agreed_ to meet up at a cafe to have a good nice chat and a much proper introduction. Although the meet-up was verbally settled, Aoko wasn't intending to show up since she thought _that man_ wouldn't too, but Ran was persistently sure that he would, for some reason or another (Aoko hoped that violence wasn't the answer, but it had always been one of Ran's way of making sure things were set out right).

Anyway, what Aoko had in mind for the meet-up was to pass the shirt and say goodbye. The nice chat and proper introduction was not going to happen, at least not when she wasn't going to initiate it.

As she descended down the escalator, Aoko smiled when she noted the cafe was nearly empty, even though it was a Saturday late afternoon. She almost cheered in triumph as she got closer towards the customer-less environment, thinking that _ha, Ran was wrong._ But _no._ Right at the corner and beside the window, the black tousled hair man was sitting on the single couch and stirring his glass of ice mocha or some sort. She sighed in defeat as she trudged inside. Oh well, back to the main plan.

"Table for?"

"I have a frien-" Aoko cleared her throat and pointed. "I have a person waiting there." She corrected herself.

The waitress nodded and lead the way.

It was so obvious Aoko was walking towards his table, yet Kaito didn't bother to look into her direction, not until when she dragged her chair, sat down and the waitress showed her the menu. It was more like him acknowledging the presence of the waitress rather than her.

"You're only entitled to the first three pages. What's behind are mostly alcoholic content," Kaito showed a lazy smirk and set his chin on his palm. "Wouldn't want this nice cafe to be trashed."

Aoko smiled and shut the menu with an elaborate force before handing it back to the waitress. "It's fine," Aoko turned and stared straight into Kaito's eyes. "I _won't_ be staying long anyway."

With an awkward look, the waitress left the table.

There wasn't a need for any shitty chat and unnecessary introductions, Aoko was sure of it now. She placed the classic paper bag on the table and pushed it towards Kaito. His gaze lingered at it for a second before looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What is this?" He drawled.

"A repayment for your shirt," Aoko muttered. "Everything is a huge misunderstanding, as you'd known, but it doesn't cancel the fact that your shirt is still ruined because of me."

Kaito stared at her unimpressively as he stirred his drink, making no attempts to take or even touch the bag. "I don't need it."

"I don't care what you do with it. Throw it. Burn it. Recycle it. Just take it." Aoko mumbled and emphasized her point with a nonchalant wave at the bag. "I don't want to owe you anything."

He contemplated for a few moments before he impassively peeked through the content. His eyes brightened for a second and Aoko wondered if he was about to show his appreciation for the gift when he pulled out the palm-sized card and Aoko's heart fell. She had done many regretful things in her life, and writing that card about how she was sorry was one of it. Darn it. What was she even thinking when she decided to write the card? It must be Ran's kindness seeping through the phone.

"It's a complimentary greeting card." Aoko quickly informed. Kaito glanced at her with a grin before flipping it open. His face had turned unreadable.

"Dear darling," He suddenly spoke.

Aoko blinked.

Kaito continued reading. "I hope you'll wear this tonight and whip me hard with it. Can't wait. xxx."

"What the hell?!" Aoko stood up from her seat to grab the card and read it. Her eyes nearly popped out once she was finished as she slumped back onto the chair. She thought Kaito was playing pranks on her, but _every_ letter that he'd said, even the three bloody _x_ , were all in accordance to the card. "This was not what I wrote!"

"But I thought it's a pretty good message." Kaito pulled an exaggerated sad face. "I was so touched by the sincerity of it that I was thinking of accepting your request."

"I'm being serious!" Aoko crushed the card into a ball and dumped it onto the table, suddenly feeling that her hands and eyes were contaminated. "There was another customer that was paying at the same time beside my counter. The gift card must have been mixed up." Aoko quickly dragged the bag to her lap and gazed inside before sighing out in relief. "At least they got the purchase right."

"It's a bit sad, don't you think?" Kaito shook his head amusingly. "There's always a misunderstanding throughout your life."

Aoko let out a desolate breath. "That was the only right thing you've ever said."

"Is that a compliment?"

"It was a sarcastic statement." Aoko rolled her eyes and stood up. She didn't even bother to take out her handbag previously so she was already ready to go. "I'm leaving now. Enjoy your coffee."

"Wait," Kaito stood up as well. Now that both of them were standing on the same platform, Aoko noted that she had to tilt her head a bit higher to look into his eyes. It was weird how she didn't feel intimidated by him at the bar that night when he was more than half a head taller and bigger than her. Alcohol was really dangerous.

"Help me out for a bit." He looked away for a moment. "If Ran asked about this meet-up, tell her that it was fine. At least give me a passing grade if she told you to rate."

Aoko smirked. So Ran was indeed part of the reason for the success of this meet-up. "What makes you think I'll fail you?"

He stared at her with a blank face. "Every fiber of your hair tells me that you hate me, no?"

"Hate is too strong for the meaning." Aoko unconsciously corrected him. It wasn't just him that was taken aback by her sentence; even she herself was puzzled by her statement when those words left her mouth. She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "I would say awkward. Maybe. It had been a... weird first meeting."

"I... guess so." Kaito muttered tentatively, earning a little raised of Aoko's eyebrows. Was he affected by her truthful words? There was this strange downhearted feeling when she thought of the possibility that Kaito had spent his life thinking everyone hated him, to the point that he was surprised when she said she didn't _hate_ him. But then again, she might be thinking too much. Thinking too much had always been her _tragic_ talent.

"Erm, well. I'll go now." Aoko pointed towards the exit. "Don't worry about Ran's side. Anyway, I should be the one in shock if I knew you don't hate me, not like you don't." She quickly added the last sentence behind.

"Hate is too strong for the meaning." He copied her line, which was so obvious as she cast him an annoyed look. He pretended he didn't notice and sat back on his seat. "It's the first time such a thing happened to me, yet I couldn't really blame the person for it because she was just being a loyal friend."

There was only _one_ sentence, yet it was too much for Aoko to digest that she didn't know how to respond. She dumbly stared at Kaito while he sipped his coffee, looking out of the window in silence. Thank God for the almost empty cafe, or it would be weird as hell for her to be standing on her spot for the next five seconds without doing anything. Clearing her mind, though she kept his words close to her heart, she turned her body back to the table and sat on her seat. Kaito looked up in mild bewilderment.

"Is it nice?" Aoko gestured at the ice mocha.

He looked down before glancing at her with a hint of curiosity in his eyes, but he didn't question her odd behavior and answered her. "Not bad."

"You don't mind if I stay for a bit? I'm getting a bit thirsty."

Kaito shrugged and pushed the bag that contained the shirt to the side of the window, all hindrance to their possible conversation removed. There was a faint tug at the corner of his lips, but Aoko wasn't sure enough to confirm if it was her wild imagination or not.

For her, she didn't bother to hide her smile. She raised her hand and gestured for the available waitress.

.o.

"You didn't ask for his number?!"

"Oh my God, _Keiko_! Keep your volume down." Aoko hushed exasperatedly and glanced over her shoulders to see if anyone on the streets was looking. Similar to those high school days, it was hard to keep their voices low when these _missed-opportunities_ or _love-is-in-the-air_ sort of conversations were going on, not like Aoko was experiencing those two things. Not at all.

Keiko shook her disappointingly as they continued making their way back to their shared apartment. It wasn't an easy life after moving away from her old house, start a new life, coming to town and work her ass off. If Keiko wasn't the one who shared all those expenses and keeping her sane throughout the years, Aoko didn't know what to do. With that sudden and overwhelming gratitude feeling, she gratefully slung her arm around Keiko's as the latter gave her an incredulous look.

"What? Did you see your ex-boyfriend?" Keiko turned her head around for inspection. "Got to pretend you're gay now?"

Aoko made a disgruntled noise. "No it's not. I'm just showing my appreciation for you."

"Don't try to change the subject!" Keiko squealed and tightened around Aoko's arm. Now it was too late for Aoko to realize she was trapped instead. "You got to ask your friend for his number!"

"No way. Ran will never get off my back if I do that. Besides, the last thing I want is to see him again."

"Why's that?" Keiko enquired thoughtfully. "Did he ask about your ex-boyfriends? He should've known those are the taboo topics to talked about during a first date."

"It's not a _date,_ Keiko." Aoko stated dryly. "We didn't talk much about ourselves but more on our mutual friends. A much safer conversation. He explained that his parents are close friends with Shinichi's parents since they were young and yeah, my story with Ran started in college. That's all."

"It isn't that bad, then." Keiko nodded enthusiastically. "Get his number, meet him for the second time and start talking about both of you instead!"

"It's true that it isn't that bad but-" Aoko sighed. "But whenever I look into his eyes, all I see is the image of me splashing his beer at his face. I can never live it down."

"You need to get over that trauma," Keiko rubbed her chin professionally and Aoko knew it at once the next sentence would certainly be a bad idea. "By doing it again."

"Are you crazy?" Aoko didn't bother to even sound mad.

"That's how you deal with trauma."

"This conversation is over." Aoko plucked her arm away from Keiko and pointed at the bakery store they always passed by while walking back to their apartment after work. "I'm getting brownies to cure my headaches. The kids at the tuition centre gave me massive troubles."

"You have to blame yourself for choosing to teach math." Keiko shuddered at the thought.

"Science is no better either." Aoko pretended to barf before skipping away. "Do you want any?"

Keiko snorted. "If you're even _lucky_ to get yourself one. I'll head to the supermarket for a while. See you back at home."

"Okay." Aoko turned and dashed towards her haven, knowing fully well Keiko was right. The brownies at the bakery store weren't anything famous or extraordinary, but it was often sold out whenever she got to the place. She pulled out her phone and gazed at the time. She was five minutes earlier than usual; maybe she got the chance to win that ruthless guy who the bakery owner always said to have beaten her in buying the last brownie in the basket.

"Good eveni-" The store owner chimed when Aoko burst through the door. If she'd stopped to return the greeting, she would have seen the stunned look on the owner's face as she sprinted towards the basket.

From afar, she could see that there was a packet of brownie left.

 _Yes!_ Aoko reached out for it. But instead of touching the soft, squishy feeling of the packet, she felt the warmth of a hand instead.

"Excuse-" Aoko blurted.

"-me" A voice came from beside her.

Their heads turned in sync.

"..."

"You two finally met." The owner laughed. "Kuroba-kun, meet the girl you swore will never get your brownies until you die. "Nakamori-san, meet the guy who you've cursed upon heaven for all the brownies he'd taken away from you."

"It's you?" Kaito scoffed.

"It's you?!" Aoko choked and she quickly straightened her posture to dispel that little embarrassed moment. No. _No._ She was not baffled or stunned or utterly in disbelief for seeing him again. She was supposed to keep her cool. Cool and smart.

"You both know each other?" The owner blinked in enchantment.

"It's a long story." Kaito chuckled and eyed Aoko for a moment.

Instantly, the same horrific images flashed across Aoko's eyes and she turned away, her face slowly grew hotter and hotter as each second passed. Instead of mourning over her embarrassment, she strategically decided to change the situation to her advantage now and mocked him for his loss later. She grabbed the brownie in the basket and broke into a run.

 _Hurry and buy the brownie and get out of here!_

"I'm first." Aoko slammed the brownie onto the counter and took out her purse.

Kaito remained unfazed and slowly ambled his way towards the cash register to stand behind her. She couldn't see him since she was distractingly counting the coins in her purse, but she could sense the smirk and smiling eyes grinding at the back of her head.

"Please don't hog up the queue if you're not buying anything." He remarked.

"Who says I'm not buying anything?" Aoko spat across her shoulder before eyeing at the counter to prove her answer. But- _What the hell?_ Her mouth hung open as her eyes began darting around to look for her lost brownie that was gone from its position. Aoko looked questioningly at the owner who only shrugged in response. She then dropped her coins back into her purse and began looking high and low, but gave up after knowing it was impossible to find it. "I thought I just put it on the counter!"

"If you can move away please, thanks." Kaito slightly shoved her aside. Gently, he showed the very brownie Aoko swore was the one she grabbed a minute ago and placed it onto the counter before flashing out a bill. The bakery owner glanced sheepishly at Aoko and shrugged again as he accepted the note, jabbing into the cash register.

"Did you just steal from me?" Aoko hollered.

"Excuse me?" Kaito quirked an amused eyebrow.

"You just- You- I-" Aoko gritted her teeth and glared as Kaito received his change and walked out of the shop, clearly not forgetting the brownie in his hand.

"I did not lose the battle." Aoko informed the owner with a firm gaze before scurrying out of the store as well. She was expecting to see Kaito walking down the streets and munching onto his victory brownie, but to her astonishment, he was standing right by the door, though she was half right when he had already tore the packet open and was about to eat it.

Before she could speak, he broke the brownie into half and presented one to her. "It's a fair match today."

Honestly, Aoko had enough surprises for today. She stared dazedly at the brownie for a long moment. "I really don't know how to react to this." She timidly looked at him again.

"Take it and eat it, drunk terminator." Kaito pushed the brownie closer to her face. Aoko grimaced at her nickname, though she had no great reason to debunk it. She took the brownie from his hand, their fingers brushing against each other.

"I don't want to call it fate but this is way too coincidental." Aoko mumbled, taking a bite. It did its effect of lightening her mood for the day. She continued another mouthful. "It's really weird."

"Weird." Kaito wolfed down the cake in one go, bits and brown crumbs littered over his lips. She tried to hide a snicker and Kaito rolled his eyes as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hands. "It's always a weird day whenever I see you."

"Same goes for me!" Aoko rebutted.

"Look, instead of cursing me upon heavens, we should do this fair. We'll take the last brownie on alternate days."

Aoko stared at him skeptically. "What's with the suggestion? It didn't seem to benefit you though." She'd always got her brownies successfully at most three or even two times a week; It was a crushing defeat, much to her reluctance to admit. And for him to make this deal, it just didn't make sense .

"Judging by your previous desperate measures and sad failed attempt to purchase the last brownie , I supposed you needed the sugar drug more than me." He cast a pitiful face, which Aoko wasn't sure if it was mocking or serious. She really, really couldn't tell.

"You're right." She decided to see the light side of him. "I do need the sugar in my system to end my day right. Thanks for-"

"But I suggest you should cut down on the sugar intake. Lot of calories." He watched her up and down. She sent him a death stare and it seemed to be a satisfying response for him as he smiled.

Aright, all his previous nice words were definitely mocking. "Thank you for your unnecessary concern." Aoko clenched her jaws. She knew her figure wasn't all that great, but...

"Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Me. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. You." Kaito ticked the days off his fingers and pointed accordingly.

"What about Sunday?" Aoko was finally distracted from her belly for once.

His smile didn't waver. "That's the battle day. Got to have some competition or it'll get too boring."

"... True enough."

"It's Thursday tomorrow. So it's yours."

For some reason or another, it was hard not to doubt Kaito for a moment. "Don't you dare lie or cheat. It's a promise." Aoko wagged her finger. He only answered her warning with an innocent wide-eye look, which reminded her about what happened five minutes ago. "Anyway, how did you steal my brownie? It was supposed to be my win."

"I didn't steal it. It was a simple distraction." He said plainly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Still, Aoko didn't get it. What distraction? That didn't explain how the brownie _magically_ appeared in his hand.

"That doesn't make sense." She gruffly responded.

"Yes it does," Kaito intriguingly pointed behind her shoulder. Curious, she whirled her head back to see what he was talking about, to find that there was nothing special to what was behind her but only some people walking about and passing by. She turned to face Kaito again, but instead of seeing his cocky smile, what appeared in front of her was a reddest rose she had ever seen.

"Um-"

"A simple distraction." Kaito repeated again. He pulled her hand to take the stalk of rose from him before giving a casual salute. "I'll be going. Perhaps I'll see you around on Sunday."

"Uh, yeah." Aoko muttered and waved dumbly with the rose. She watched him walk away until he disappeared into the crowd of passing strangers. Her eyes lingered down to the rose in her hand, and only when a passer-by knocked into her shoulder then she made the sense to move and head to her apartment.

It was lucky for Aoko that Keiko wasn't home yet or there would be an interrogation night if she'd seen her brought a rose home. Secretively, Aoko kept the rose in a small spare vase and placed it on her bedside near the window. Although she took extra care in trying to preserve it, the rose wilted three days later.

.o.

Aoko massaged her shoulder and felt her muscles tightened under her grip. She released a small sigh and focused on packing her teaching materials. Standing wasn't that bad, but spending the whole day lifting her arm and constantly writing on the whiteboard was putting a strain on her back. She made sure all the markers were kept in the box before closing the lights and shutting the door, all done for the day.

Sadly for Keiko, she was still teaching her last class and wouldn't knock off after half an hour later. Having some time to herself, Aoko slowly retrieved her bag from her staff locker and headed towards the receptionist, thinking that she could do some catch up and have a little chat while waiting. But to no one's luck, the receptionist was busy talking onto the phone, with a strained polite tone that Aoko knew was trouble with a possible parent. Aoko casted a pity look while the receptionist groaned silently and continued with the phone conversation.

Sitting on the couch was too bored for Aoko and honestly speaking, she was rather rick of staring at the four plain white walls when she had done that for the whole day already. Decided in her mind, Aoko strolled out of the tuition centre and took in a deep breath of fresh air. So much better.

There was a playground just a few meters away from the centre, a good spot for the kids to go after their classes or while they were waiting for their parents to fetch them. Just a distance away, she could hear soft laughter coming from the said playground, instantly piquing her interest. It was a weird timing for any children to be playing this late, especially when it should've been dinner time. And even if the children was still waiting for their parents to bring them back home, wouldn't it be dangerous for them to be alone by themselves? Not feeling right, Aoko hastily approached to the voices of giggling and creaking of swings.

"Come on, harder! Higher! Put the genes from your mother to some good use."

Aoko's jaw dropped at the sight, her eyes grew wider each time she watched the swing went up and down. It would've been a great, lovely image to see if it was a cute child sitting on the swing and giggling at the fun, but her lips couldn't even twitch when it was an adult shouting _woo-hoo!_ while the one who was pushing him was literally _a child_.

"What the he-" Aoko swallowed the last word down her throat and spoke again. "What are you doing?"

Kaito, who was sitting on the swing, dragged his feet across the sandy ground and stopped his momentum instantly. The young and sweet Kudo Chieko, the precious daughter of Shinichi and Ran and also a brilliant joy to Aoko's life was standing behind Kaito, her hands ready for another push. Her violet eyes turned towards Aoko too.

"Aoko-sensei!" Chieko chimed.

"Back to it again," Aoko growled and stomped over and glared down at Kaito. "You're a despicable mustard."

He gave a bored look. "What? Are you going to throw some sand on my face now?"

"I'm considering that! How can you ask a child push you on the swing?" Aoko exclaimed exasperatedly before squatting down to pat Chieko's shoulder pitifully. "Chieko, where is your Mom and Dad?"

"They are busy," Chieko answered merrily. "Uncle Kuroba fetched me after class today."

Aoko cast an irritated look over at Kaito. "Did this Uncle Kuroba bully you? Don't be afraid to tell me. You know I'm your mother's good friend. I'll tell her everything she needs to know."

"You can't tell her about this!" Chieko exclaimed.

Horrified at the possible conclusion, Aoko snarled over at Kaito again while he was resting his head against the metal chains of the swing, an amused smile spreading across his face. What was he smiling about? This psychopath! Aoko took in a deep breath and looked back at Chieko. "Why not? Is it because Uncle Kuroba is a bully and is threatening you? Don't be afraid. I'm here to protect you."

"That's not it." Chieko remarked and smiled over at Kaito, which he returned the same. "It was me who suggested this because I want Uncle Kuroba to help me with my arm's strength. I'm entering a Karate competition next month. Mom didn't want me to strain myself with training, but I want to surprise her by winning the junior championship title."

 _Um, what?_ Aoko blinked.

"You have the wildest and most creative imagination. This alone, you deserve an applause." Kaito gave a few claps and he jumped off the swing. "But again, I guess I can't blame you for your reaction." He ruffled Chieko's brown locks as the child whined. "I'll react the same if I'm you."

Aoko slowly stood up from her position and let out a few coughs. _Why does this feel like a Deja Vu?_

"Sorry Aoko-sensei for letting you worry." Chieko mumbled shyly.

"It's not your fault." Aoko quickly explained. "I've overreacted without knowing the facts."

Chieko nodded her head and continued to stare at Aoko with her innocent wide eyes. "Then why didn't you apologize to Uncle Kuroba? Dad told me it's bad and wrong to accuse people. That's why his job is very important."

Aoko flushed.

"Ah," Kaito cackled as he caressed and smoothed his shirt. "I have to give credit to that Sherlock Holmes' great teaching about respect and discipline." He continued, though in a way as if he was speaking to himself when Aoko clearly knew what he was hinting on, obviously.

Still, it was her fault. Again. All a misunderstanding.

 _Another_ misunderstanding.

Aoko turned towards Kaito and lowered her head, hoping there wasn't hint of reluctance in her actions. She looked up and met his smug grin and she couldn't hide the scowl and low growl that escaped her lips. "I'm sorry for accusing you." Aoko muttered.

"You're forgiven." His smile had been plastered on his face for as long as Aoko remembered.

She decided to move on with the subject, which was not only the best for her but also for the sake of Chieko as well. "Instead of training, you should be bringing Chieko to eat. Look at the time already."

Kaito hummed in nonchalant agreement and took out his phone. While looking at the time, he took his opportunity to look through his flooded emails and messages before he stuffed his phone away and glanced up at Aoko. "Do you want to join us?"

That was unexpected. Aoko rubbed the back of her neck unconsciously and jabbed her thumb back to the direction of the centre. "I'm waiting for my friend.

"Pity." Kaito shrugged and put out a hand for Chieko, which the latter accepted eagerly. "Let's go for burgers?"

"Yay!" Chieko cheered and turned around. "Bye Aoko-sensei. See you next week."

"See you." Aoko waved in return.

She watched the two animatedly leaving the playground until they were long gone from her sight and their chortles couldn't be heard anymore. Aoko shuffled her feet across the sand and sat on the same swing that Kaito was on previously without much thought. The seat was cold.

The swing creaked lonelily.

What a pity indeed.

.o.

It was agreed between Aoko and Keiko that there would always be a weekly night-out no matter rain or shine, an off day from work and to get the bad stuff out of the head before the new week starts. But here Aoko was, sitting on the bar stool while drinking beer all by herself. When Aoko was just starting on her drink beforehand, Keiko had called to explain she couldn't make it at the last minute, saying she had to return back to her old home because there was some issues back there. Keiko made Aoko promise to not get herself in trouble without her around. It was hard to keep to that, but it would be harder to put the phone down if she didn't agree.

 _Just one drink and I'll go._ Aoko declared to herself. From all the previous nasty experiences of being alone by herself with alcohol, it was true that it was a bad idea.

"Hey lady. Alone tonight?"

Aoko spun her head towards the deep voice and stared straight into a man who was leaning against the bar counter next to her, his lips curled up to a nasty shape that she didn't like. He moved a bit closer when she said nothing and she adjusted her shirt around her neck, just in case.

"I'm with someone." She lied. There really wasn't any other way around this.

"Then let me accompany you until your friend comes."

She clicked her tongue and stepped down from her seat. "You can enjoy your drink, sir. I'll be leaving-"

"Why are you in a rush?" The man grabbed her arm and Aoko almost stumbled back due to the force. She slightly winced at the grip but the man obviously didn't care. "Aren't you going to wait for your friend anymore?"

"I'll wait for my friend elsewhere." Aoko snapped and attempted to struggle out of his clutch, but to no avail. This was getting bad.

"Don't be such a spoiler. Accompany me for a while." The man jerked her towards his side and despite being in a bar, the scent of alcohol was so much stronger on his body that she felt like choking. She was considering if she should scream for help or perhaps _reenact_ _something_ she had done before when she felt her other arm being pulled away, but this time, the warmth around her skin was much comforting than she ever felt in her life. The new competition had happened so suddenly that the perverted man's hand wasn't prepared and slipped away.

"What do you think you're doing?" A low, dangerous voice spoke above Aoko. She tilted her head upwards and realized she was staring at the sharp and strong V-shaped jaw. She blinked and moved her head to her side. Her cheek was rubbing against a soft fabric, and beneath it was the hard, firm chest...

She straightened her posture and their shoulders' brushed, but her savior wasn't perturbed. His hand was still fiercely wrapped around her arm.

"Who the fuck are you?" The perverted man barked.

"And who the _fuck_ are you?" Kaito muttered dangerously, a terrifying light glinted in his eyes. "Don't touch what's not yours."

The perverted man grumbled under his breath and leaped down from the chair and stumbled away, not without pointing a middle finger after he was at a safe distance. It took a long while before Aoko finally registered what just happened, along with feeling the warm fingers around her arm slipping away.

Kaito ruffled his hair and slammed his glass of drink Aoko didn't even realize he was carrying in the first place onto the counter. He sighed out loud, giving her a side long glance. "You're one hell of a trouble."

"Um," Aoko straightened the hem of her shirt and sunk back on her seat. "I'm still trying to get my head straight but thanks. I think it's obvious you just saved me from a huge mess."

"A huge mess." Kaito repeated and shook his head disappointedly. "Damn. I should've just stood back and watched. _I_ was a good show for everybody last time and I want to see how it was like for _that_ to happen on someone else instead."

"I'm not interested in being part of the show either." Aoko announced aggressively.

It always seemed like her anger was the fuel to his happiness or something close to that sort of emotion. His pursed lips was now replaced with a set of shiny white teeth. "Anyway, where's your friend?"

"She couldn't make it today."

"Then you shouldn't be here." Kaito pushed his beer closer, silently claiming his territory of space before propping up onto the chair next to hers. "It isn't exactly safe."

"Thank you for your concern." Aoko said sincerely and a slow, sweet smile spread across her face like honey when she recapped the scene that happened just now. " _Don't touch what's not yours_. Is that the line you use on other women?"

"Are you supposed to be insulting your savior?" Kaito squinted his eyes, a muscle twitching near his cheek. It promptly reminded Aoko of the nice V-shaped jaw that she was staring a few minutes ago and she inwardly thanked all Gods for not providing the ability for humans to read each other minds.

"Seriously, thank you." Aoko clanged her glass against his and lifted it to drink to show her gratitude, but instead, Kaito moved his body back. She paused, her lips hovered over the rim of her glass before putting it back on the table with an offensive frown. "What's with you?"

"A reflex." He deadpanned.

Aoko's lips curled down, not bothering to hide about how she was further affected with his words. It wasn't like she didn't have those similar images flashing across her mind occasionally (whenever she thought of him). "At most if that scene repeats, I'll pay for another shirt. _Not_ like it will happen either." She retorted and took her sip.

"This shirt is irreplaceable." Kaito warned, caressing his neatly folded sleeves. "My favorite."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes and sparing the shirt one last glance, only for her to catch another glance, and then the third, and then the forth. As Kaito indifferently ignored her curious gazes over his shirt and drank his beer, Aoko finally couldn't control the urge to tally the answer she was starting to speculate with his.

"Um, is this the shirt I gave you that time as repayment?" She kept her voice low and soft. The light made her unable to tell whether the colour was the same, but she recognized the brand and the way the shirt was tailored. It was shameless for her to think that, but still... it just looked so familiar.

Instead of mocking her _mistake_ , he nodded. "Yeap. This is the shirt you gave to me."

Her jaws dropped. She was already bracing for the impact of the truth. "You aren't serious, right? I thought you weren't interested in it."

Kaito smirked across the glass. "How could I not when the giver wants me to wear it and whip her hard that night with it? It had been a fantastic memory."

"Stop talking about that card." Aoko stuck out her tongue in disgust and covered her eyes with a hand. "I could never un-see those words."

He snickered, a half-suppressed smile, but his twinkling eyes did most of the job to brighten his features. "Besides that, this shirt is of good quality. If I have to admit, the one you ruined wasn't even half as good as this. You've overestimated the worth of it."

"It's not really about the worth of your ruined shirt." Aoko dragged her hand down her face and glanced away bashfully. "It's more than that."

She wasn't sure if he got her meaning but he simply nodded without a word. They sat in a comfortable silence, letting the background music to fill in the space between them. When she was almost immersed into the song while tapping her flats against the side of her chair, a phone suddenly waved in front of her, breaking her concentration. She blinked, her eyes soon trailed along the slender fingers, long arm, rolled up sleeves and Kaito's face.

"I wouldn't say you'd owed my anything since I was the one who volunteered my service, but I thought the idea was useful for both of us." He waved his phone again. "Let's exchanged numbers. In case you get into the same trouble again. And likewise for me."

Aoko scorned and pluck his phone from his fingers. "Too much ladies to handle?"

"Life's hard."

She typed in her number, along with her name when Kaito abruptly took his phone away from her grasp.

"Nuh-uh." He deleted _Nakamori Aoko_ from the name column and tapped in the words _Drunk Terminator_ as replacement. Aoko had no idea how many times her brows had been furrowed that night.

"Asshole." She sneered and fished out her phone to create a new contact. Before she asked for his number, she recorded his name as _Mustard_ before handing it to him in a deliberate manner.

"Do you hate mustard?" He asked as he tapped down his number and passed it to her when he was done.

"Oh," Aoko kept her phone and ran her fingers through her hair. "Aren't you smart?"

"I bet you're one of those good kids who would say _fried chicken_ as the curse word when you bummed your toe or something."

There was a short pause. Aoko robotically turned her head and googled at Kaito in brief amazement. "You're actually right. I mean, I _do_ say fried chicken when I bummed my toe against something."

Kaito let out a sharp breath that resembled a laugh. "Are you seriously treating food as your enemies?"

"Fried chicken starts with the letter F." Aoko inputted sardonically.

"You're really naive."

"I tell myself that sometimes too." She remarked in a manner that sounded nearly melancholy, even to herself. Hoping to dispel that redundant moment, she raised her glass as a distraction. the tactic he once taught her about. "Cheers, mustard."

"Cheers, drunk terminator."

.o.

In most of Aoko's life, embarrassment always plagued her like a sickening disease she could never cure.

There were many weird incidents that occurred throughout Aoko's life, but there was a particular one that happened around two years ago, back when she just started a new beginning and her tutoring job in town. Her life had always been either boring or unlucky, so when she agreed to meet up with her high school mates to reminisce about the past, she knew that somehow, this anticipated meet-up would eventually end up a disaster for her, be it for feeling like a loser in life compared to all the successful business stories, or that everyone had been off the _I'm single_ shelf except for her (Darn Keiko. All the pretentious supermarket visits were all to find the cashier hunk, who had been wooing her since ages).

Or maybe not _just_ a disaster. Something much worse. Maybe

"I'm getting married."

"Wow congratulations, Saguru!"

"That's amazing! Why didn't you bring your lady here?"

"When and where is the wedding? Is it at Britain? You got to hold one in Japan too!"

"You're going to invite us all, right?"

Heartbreaks. That's all.

Her first crush in high school, the smart, handsome and pretty blonde detective, Hakuba Saguru. The gentleman Aoko couldn't help but fell in love with, but ended up falling into a heap of emotion-mess after she realized there wasn't any chance for her to ever be in his spot light, at least not when she was just a messy brown-haired girl who did math more than make-up. She thought this reunion might finally give her the possible chance to change everything, but how wrong and _naive_ she was. Not to forget that it sucked when almost half of her first month salary was spent on a dress that wasn't even glanced upon by any man twice, at least not from the _one_ she wanted. A little one-sided crush. A big, crushed heart.

Instead of explaining to Keiko that she had lied and hadn't actually got over Hakuba, she told her best friend she wanted to go home first due to a headache, which was partially true if she was going to stay at this suffocated scene any longer. She managed to stumble out of the nice, get-together bar and slipped into a much populated club, where everyone were truly focusing on the drinking rather than the talking.

She ordered one large something, not too sure what, but she requested it to be able to knock her out good and forget the pain. It seemed the bartender took his job too seriously and gave the exact thing Aoko wanted and got herself indeed dead drunk. She remembered colliding into many men and women on the dance floor, screaming a bunch of sad lyrics songs and mingled with the crowd. It was a good party. A party she couldn't remember 95 percent of it.

It seemed Keiko knew better than to trust Aoko to go home alone. She called Aoko after the reunion party was over, just in time on Aoko's side as well when the club she was in was closing. Aoko picked up the phone and told Keiko in great details about where she was and the undesirable state she was in before Keiko immediately flew to the scene. But Aoko didn't remember speaking on her phone, or when her best friend dragged her across a dozen of blocks to reach their apartment. She certainly didn't remember crying profusely about her heartbreak or how she almost threw up twice on her precious bed. But she eventually knew all of them the next day after Keiko scolded the life out of her and banned her from drinking anything alcoholic for the time being. Aoko was too guilty and embarrassed by the truth to argue.

Even though missing pictures and pieces somehow managed to link itself together, Keiko couldn't explain the same recurring dreams Aoko had for the next several nights.

Aoko dreamt about bumping into this man while she was vigorously jumping wildly on the floor, his height was half a head taller, perhaps. She dreamt how she shamelessly began clinging onto him the whole night, even with her crazy hair and messy make up on her tear-stained face, just because he had the same cologne fragrance as what Hakuba had worn during the reunion. She dreamt that the beautiful scent was all gone, at least temporarily, when she felt her stomach squeezed and the back of her mouth turning sour and painful as the vomit climbed up her throat.

She dreamt the way the man tugged her arm roughly and towards one of the stall at the back of the club. It wasn't clear if it was from the man or woman's restroom, but it was nonetheless useful for its purpose as Aoko vomited all of her content into the toilet bowl. She dreamt the warm and delicate fingers pulling her brown hair away from her face and combing it behind her ear thoughtfully. She dreamt how his breath tickled her bare shoulder and skin.

 _"Don't drink when you can't handle it."_

Blue eyes. Everything was foggy. But there were blue eyes.

 _"Your cologne smells just like him."_ Aoko giggled playfully and slumped her back against the side wall after she was sure she was done with her puking. _"Just. Like. Him. But his eyes are amber! Amber!"_

Blue eyes. Foggy. Bright blue eyes.

He squatted next to her and spoke, his voice was dry and scornful. _"If this cologne is going to attract people like you, I'm not wearing it anymore._ "

She fisted his shirt, shocking him not just mentally and also physically as his balance broke and he almost fell forward. He only managed to not squash or touch her body by slamming an arm against the wall right beside Aoko's face to support his position. Oblivious and unaware of the predicament she almost caused, Aoko began her speech. _"You are right! Don't wear his cologne anymore! Stop attracting me! Stop playing with my senses! Why must you wear his cologne?! You don't have the rights to break my heart! You don't! You don't!"_

After Aoko finished her loud screaming and her voice had turned too hoarse to continue, she pushed him away and gave a pout that represented the need of comfort and love. It would have been cute and convince-worthy, at least in her opinion, if her face wasn't wrecked and almost unrecognizable with the rainy mascara, smudged eyeliner and lips as red and horrifying as a clown. It was a wonder why this man was still entertaining her. It was a wonder why he even helped her. It was a wonder. It must be a dream.

A dream...? Yet so strangely real. She could faintly remember (in her dream) the way the blue eyes sparkled, and maybe the little upward tug on the side of his perfect lips.

 _"You're one hell of a drunk terminator."_

.o.

"I've heard you've met Kaito a couple of times." Ran scooped a plate of egg sushi from the conveyor belt and set in in front of her. The small tower of colorful pates would have toppled right there and then if Ran asked the question a second earlier when Aoko was in the midst of setting her plate on the top.

"Um, yeah. Yeah we did. All of them were a coincidence." Aoko chugged down her cup of warm green tea to dispel the awkwardness.

Ran cast an accusing look, which conveyed the clear message of _why didn't you tell me beforehand?_ but her calm smile erased that brief scary moment, as though it didn't appear at all. Aoko knew all too well to know this dinner wasn't going to be smooth trailing with happy conversations of many raked up funny pasts.

"So how do you find him?" Ran leaned over to Aoko's side and slightly jabbed her elbow into her ribs. "He's not that bad, eh?"

"No comment." Aoko answered heavily, in a tone she knew Ran could easily know she was lying. Aoko chided herself inwardly for the stupid mistake and took the opportunity to scoot her seat a little further away from Ran when she stood up to take another plate of sushi.

"Really?" Ran looked at her sushi in pity. "I thought you two would make a good couple."

All Aoko wanted was just a good meal, but she decided to ruin it all rather than letting Ran go with the thought that she could be helping in ways that Aoko might not appreciate. It was best to say it now than later. "I'm not trying to be a spoil-sport here but helping Kazuha-chan and Hattori-kun to get together doesn't mean your method will work on me too." Aoko showed a weak smile that she thought she shouldn't have bothered showing at all. "They are childhood friends since young, same for you and Shinichi. I have none."

"Come on," Ran took Aoko's elbow gently with specific care. "It took us many heartbreaks to be together too."

Aoko looked away and let her chopsticks leaned against the plate of soy sauce. She had grown full all of the sudden. Was she filled of sushi or some _dumb_ feeling churning negatively in her stomach? Aoko didn't bother to know.

"Don't you wonder how I even know you've met him as of late if your mouth is sealed?" Ran continued to push through the conversation and make it last.

That indeed caught Aoko's attention by a bit. "I guess Chieko ratted on me about that night?"

Ran blinked in mild confusion. "What night?"

Great. She just dug her own grave even deeper. Aoko quickly waved her off. "Oh nothing, nothing at all."

She knew there was no way Ran was going to drop that matter so easily, but it seemed the answer she was trying to get into Aoko's head was a much important priority than anything else. Even when two plates of Ran's favorite sushi had passed them by, she didn't bother to even glance at the conveyor's belt.

"Kaito talked to me about you. That's why." Ran broke into a grin, like she had just announced the first winner of the lottery.

Aoko's lips slightly parted and her skepticism automatically shot her eyebrows up her forehead. "Um, what?"

"Don't you want to know what he'd said?" Ran's excited smile grew even brighter, if that was possible.

It wasn't hallucination when Aoko could hear her heart pounding in her ears as her toes unconsciously curled on her sandals in anticipation. She squirmed in her seat, not really knowing if the uneasiness was because she'd sat for too long or because there was this growing fear towards the answer Ran was basically waving at her at, like a carrot towards a rabbit. So tempting to want it, yet you'd never know if the carrot was poisonous or not. The higher the expectation, the more disappointment to come. But Aoko had grew tired of the saying. It would be better if she didn't hear the answer at all.

Ran sniggered playfully and whipped out a paper from her bag, flapping it across Aoko's face. "He wanted me to give this to you before his flight last night." Ran glanced into the distance, clearly reflecting back on the memory. "Of course I didn't let him _go_ after that. That's when we started to talk about you."

Aoko shuddered. She didn't want to imagine the terrible night Kaito must have been through. The way Ran emphasized the _go_ was greatly suspicious. "So it wasn't a _two-way_ conversation?" Aoko wearily confirmed as she plucked the firm paper from Ran's fingers and caressed the sharp ends. "It was more like an interrogation?"

"It had been a pleasant exchange." Ran stated and cleared her throat, taking a long, deliberate sip of her green tea to create some kind of suspense. "He mentioned things like how you're one of a kind. _One of a kind._ And it had been weird encounters one after another though he didn't mind. _Didn't mind._ "

"Are you sure you didn't sugarcoat the words? One of a kind?" Aoko scoffed. "More like _weird drunk terminator_. And then you changed it to a whole new, nice meaning; _One of a kind_."

"Don't depress yourself like that." Ran chided. "Even if you don't believe my words, at least believe in the ticket!"

Aoko's mind had been too busy that she had completely ignored the existence of the so called paper in her hand. She straightened her posture and stared down at the ticket in her hand, to only realize it was _indeed_ a ticket.

It was a ticket for a standup comedian show Aoko had once so, _so_ casually mentioned when she spotted the advertisement while passing by the subway station on their way home that night from the bar. She only talked about her brief interest for two seconds, out of the thousands of nonsensical exchanges they had to and fro for the couple of hours, and here it was in her hand, the ticket to the very performance. She kept a note at the back of her head to ask a doctor in the future about the meaning of this indescribable fluttering feeling in her chest, like caged up butterflies trying to get out.

"Why did he buy you this?" Ran questioned, gesturing her head at the ticket.

"I've told him about it randomly." Aoko murmured sheepishly. "I always wanted to see a comedy show, but I feel awkward if I were to watch and laugh alone." It was weird, _definitely_ weird to feel a questionable sting in her eyes then, but she continued to speak out her thoughts. "I really didn't expect this."

 _Even with all those blabbers and different topics, he remembered._

"Neither did I expect it." Ran set her chopsticks down and gave a thoughtful look. "You know, he's actually supporting his competitors, in a way."

"Wait, what?" Aoko blinked. "He's a standup comedian?"

"What have you two been conversing about all these while?" A wave of confusion flooded Ran's features and Aoko would've copied hers if she wasn't busy trying to think about the question too.

Ended up, Aoko didn't know the answer. "Uh, we spoke whatever that came up in mind. Mostly about random things. Just like that."

"He's a magician," Ran simply explained about Kaito's life in three words. "An entertainer, basically. That's why."

Realization finally dawned upon her as her memories began to brighten up like the sun coming out from behind the dark clouds and an image of a striking red rose appeared in her vision. Ran's words finally matched the _distracting_ stuff Kaito had mentioned about outside the bakery store that evening. It suddenly all made sense. Aoko stared down at the ticket. Except for this. It didn't make sense. Why? Why did he give her this ticket? She could afford it herself, definitely-

" _7pm, outside the hall. See you there._ Was his message to you." Ran clasped her hands together and swooned before her face fell and her shoulders started to shake in an uncontrollable manner. Even the table was slightly moving due to her strength. "And by the way, the reason why he didn't text you about it was _because_ you gave him your wrong phone number. All along, he had been conversing with a ten year old child who only knew how to send emojis back as replies."

"Oh my- _NO_." Aoko slammed her head onto the table before looking up at Ran tearfully. "Please tell me it's a joke."

"I wish I could but it isn't. He showed me the texts and it was all there." Ran chortled out loud and continued to explain through snorts and giggles. "I've corrected your number on his phone but he's on his way to Las Vegas for his magic performance so there really wasn't a point for that, as of now. He's always terribly busy and uncontactable when he's on tour, like always."

Aoko slapped her face into the palm of her hands. "You have one job, Nakamori Aoko. _One_ job. To type in your phone number and you screwed it _all_ up."

Ran took in one deep breath to sooth her laughing cells and wiped a tear from her eye. "It's alright. I guess he's used to it, in some way or another." She added unnecessarily, even though it was true.

"I don't know how to face him anymore." Aoko stared at the ticket in her hand and sighed heavily. "I just want to melt myself into the abyss." _And all these while I'd thought he was just adding my phone number to his trophy list for the number of girls he'd knew... I was the one being idiotic and stupid!_ Aoko groaned in her head and wondered how many sushi she should shove into her mouth to knock herself out and get amnesia. She needed to forget all of the piled up embarrassment she had with him already.

"Cheer up." Ran patted comfortingly on Aoko's back and pointed a finger at the ticket with her other hand. "Amend the mistake on that night. Make it right."

Aoko closed her eyes.

She could imagine everything going wrong already.

.o.

 _"Sorry."_

For the past half an hour, Aoko had been staring at the text on her phone, her thumb hovering over the send button. She flipped around on the bed and laid on her stomach, to continue to stare at the message in her fifth position she had changed into all these while.

Was she stupid or naive? Hadn't Ran said Kaito was too busy to tend to his phone? Would he even receive the message in Las Vegas? Aoko plopped her phone aside and muffled her exasperated shout into her sheets (Still, she wanted to apologize to him).

Suddenly gaining some kind of light or wisdom, she quickly picked up her phone and deleted her message and typed in the new one.

 _"Sorry about all the misunderstandings."_

 _No. No._ It sounded so worthless and empty.

 _"Please forgive my stupid mistake! I'm glad you didn't give up on me even though you'd thought I'm an emoji fanatic."_

What the hell? _No._ Deleted.

 _"Hello! How are you? I hope you are having fun at Las Vegas."_

That seemed so irresponsible and she was completely off the main topic of her text. Bad. _Nuh-uh._

Aoko changed to her sixth position, turning her body to let her feet lean against the wall and her hands stayed in the air while she held her precious phone. She squinted her eyes at the blank message box and pathetically typed again.

 _"Sorry that I've given you the wrong number. It's because I'm pre(tty tipsy that night.)"_

For some reason or another, her hands decided to fail and her phone plopped onto her face before she could type finished the important factor. Aoko winced at the sharp pain on her nose and grumpily looked back at her phone screen to continue-

Her eyes widened at the new chat bubble that had appeared on the originally blank, white space.

 _"Sorry that I've given you the wrong number. It's because I'm pregnant."_

 _OH MY GOD._

 _No._

 _NO._

If someone had managed to film the way Aoko had jumped out of the bed, she might have the chance to score into a talent show. Her hysteric screams echoed in her room, nearly shattering the windows until the door flung open and Keiko appeared with a broom readied in her hand.

"Is it that spider that we've failed to catch yesterday?! Where is it?" Keiko screamed as well as she began swinging the broom in the air. The two of them started running in circles until Keiko stopped when she realized there wasn't any spider for her to catch, at least not anymore when Aoko had mostly likely stepped it to death already with all her stomping and jumping on the floor.

"What the hell Aoko!" Keiko dropped the broom and shook Aoko's shoulders. "What is wrong with you?!"

It took her an ounce of energy to breathe properly. She was on the verge of bursting into tears. "I'm screwed, Keiko." Aoko showed her the phone. "Why am I always like this?!"

Keiko stared at the screen for a long while before looking straight into Aoko's eyes. "You're pregnant?"

"No!" Aoko wailed and dragged her fingers down her face. "It's my phone's auto spelling function- I'm so-!"

On the exact cue, her phone vibrated.

Keiko was here. The tuition centre was closed early today. Ran should be busy with preparing dinner for the family at this timing.

There should be absolutely no reason why her phone vibrated. There was no way...

Aoko glanced down at the phone in her hand and her knuckles turned white.

A new chat bubble appeared.

 _"Congratulations."_

It was supposed to be 2am in Las Vegas. He should be asleep. She thought she would have time to calm down and think of her next step. But what now? _Congratulations?_

"Oh my god, Keiko." Aoko slumped back on her bed, her eyes as hollow as it could ever be. "I've messed up."

Keiko sat heavily next to her and nudged Aoko's shoulder. "Text- No. You should call him. Call that mustard of yours. You always mess up, but you cleared them up in the end too. You got to do it this time." Keiko prompted strongly and grabbed Aoko's hand that was clinging weakly onto her phone. "Do it. I'm even willing to pay half of your phone bill if you make that international call."

"It's 2am in Las Vegas," Aoko pinched the bridge of her nose. "2am."

"But he replied you! It means he's awake!" Keiko urged. "Don't be a girl!"

Aoko stared at her blank phone screen. A knot had formed in a her throat and it didn't want to go away without a fight. Flat-chested girl, ditzy girl, nerdy girl, she'd heard it all and she never thought of wanting to really prove them wrong. How could she not be a girl now? What else could she be?

 _"You're one hell of a drunk terminator."_

She frowned.

 _"One hell of a..."_

 _Where did I hear that before?_

Back in the real state, Keiko furrowed her brows worriedly. "...Hey?"

Aoko was snapped back to Earth. She unlocked her phone and went to her contact list to dial his number. Yes. She was a terminator, a Drunk Terminator, was she not? Why would she be afraid of this silly misunderstanding? Their interactions were all basically built on these misunderstandings anyway. That was it.

Keiko clapped her hands excitedly and watched in anticipation. Although it would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous, Aoko still put on a brave face as a cover, and also to convince herself she was indeed brave to make this move. Brave was a nice word. Desperate was the underlying term that fitted her better. She couldn't bear to see this friendship- this relationship- this _everything_ that she thought was perfect despite all the faults and flaws was slipping from her grasp.

 _"Congratulations."_ Her heart ached at the thought of the message.

The foreign ringing tone had been going on forever and just when Aoko was so afraid the call would be directed to the voicemail, there was a cutting sound and-

 _"Hello."_

 _Yes. Yes. YES._

"Hello." She perked up at the voice she never thought she wanted to hear so badly until now. "This is Aoko."

There was a brief silence. _"Please don't tell me you're calling to ask me for my hotel address because you can't wait to send me your wedding invitation."_ It should be a joke, Aoko _knew_ it had to be. But Kaito sounded so dead serious that she didn't find any chance to laugh about it _._

Her back slouched a little and she bit her lips. Keiko began making gestures as an encouragement and for that, and herself, Aoko decided to go with it. She cleared her mind once and let the words go once she fully thought it through her head. No auto-correct, no auto-spelling. It was all her words from her very mouth.

"Will you believe me if I say the text was all a misunderstanding?" Aoko cringed at the awkwardness in her voice but she regained back her composure. "Like maybe... an auto-spelling function on my phone ruined the whole text that I had been spending the entire evening trying to send to you?"

When there wasn't a reply, Aoko leaned her cheek closer to the phone, wondering if the signal had went bad. But then there was a shuffling sound-

A muffled snort. A muffled laugh. And then all of a sudden, a loud, clear laughter enveloped Aoko's ear with its beauty and grace. _"Are you serious?"_

 _"_ Yes. I am." She rubbed a tired eye and glanced over at Keiko, who returned a relief grin as the latter pointed out at the door. Aoko nodded silently, watching Keiko pick up the broom from the floor and leave the room, giving Aoko the chance to enjoy the precious, invisible bridge that connect both her and Kaito across the Earth. Something so simple, yet so unique and heart-warming at the same time.

 _"With you and_ only _you, it all make sense."_

This was the moment when the weight on her shoulders rolled away and down her sleeves and she thought she could finally fly. "Honestly, my luck had been screwing me around that I don't even know which part I should apologize first." She still find the need to say even after the guilt had been mostly washed away.

 _"There isn't a need to apologize, seriously."_ Kaito affirmed.

"Of course I should." Aoko argued and softly continued. "Your reply; _Congratulations_. It sounded so sad. I don't know. I thought maybe I've hurt your feelings or somewhat."

Another silence, though this time it was longer than the one before. _"In that case, your apology is accepted."_

 _Does that mean..._ "Anyway, the original words were supposed to be _I'm pretty tipsy that night,_ definitely not pregnant _._ "

 _"_ _That explained a lot; About many things."_ There was a rocking sound, as if he was shaking his head with the phone. " _Should have known._ _Can't believe that was our first text. Another worthy memory to remember of."_

Aoko slapped a hand over her forehead and let out a sigh, but a smile reached her lips as well. "I shouldn't have called, but I thought another text was too much of a risk again." Aoko managed a dry laugh, which was supposed to direct at her own self. "You should go and have your sleep." She glanced at her bed-side clock. It must be close to 3 in the morning over there. "It's late and I assume you have a performance tomorrow?"

 _"I guess so."_

"Well, good night over there." Aoko chirped, ironically. "I'm have to prepare to head out to have dinner with Keiko soon."

 _"See you, then."_ Kaito hummed lightly behind the phone, a hint of contemplation playing in his voice. Aoko decided to finish the sentence for him.

"The comedy show. 7pm, outside the hall."

Was it even possible to hear a smile? Aoko did when Kaito spoke.

 _"Yeah."_

* * *

 **A/N: Hello. I'm (kinda) not dead, neither is my undying love for KaiAo.**  
 **Here's another trashy KaiAo fic. Oh God, the monster-length... I don't know whether to cry or be proud.**  
 **One more chapter to go. Please be patient because school sucks. Hope you enjoyed.**  
 **Reviews make me happy.**


	2. Chapter 2

Love At First Error (2/2)

* * *

It was official that today was Aoko's worst day in her life. She remembered reading about her daily horoscope that today would be her life's best changing point but _screw it all_. The only change that Aoko knew she was going to get was a couple of grey hair and a few stressful wrinkles after this.

Aoko had been sitting on a bench inside the freezing air-conditioned police headquarters, her feet shaking up and down with irritation for the past one hour. Her impatience was growing by every second that passed, but once her eyes glanced over at a lady who was limping towards the counter with a crutch and a bruised eye, her fingers brushed across her bandaged wrist and she sighed, thinking maybe her life wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Though she changed her mind when she realized it had been an hour since she was last contactable. Why? Because she'd lost everything and her phone was one of it.

She had knocked off class early that day and was walking back home, wanting to take a good shower and get into a nice dress when all of the sudden, a motorist zoomed past her and snatched her handbag, robbing her right in public. What made it worse was when the force from the pull caused her to fall forward, her good wrist became sprained and bruised.

"Nakamori Aoko."

The name jolted her feet up and she dashed to chair in front of the counter that called her name. The police officer looked tired and dreadful and Aoko couldn't help but allow her impatience to slightly die away. Not just her was having a bad day, perhaps. She sat on her seat and wrapped her fingers around the edge of the table. "I want to report a robbery."

The police officer turned towards his computer. "Please tell me more details about it. Where did it happen?"

It had been one long and draggy story that Aoko thought she was reading off a novel. The officer printed a copy of the document of her report and told her she would be informed if her items were (ever) found. She growled out in frustration and all the policeman did was to shrug and move on to call out for the next person at the waiting area.

Now what? Aoko slowly sauntered out of the room, folding the paper into her jeans pocket while trying to relieve some stress by muttering a list of fried food under her breath. Her wrist hurts, her shirt was slightly dirtied from the fall and all her valuables were gone. Her phone. Her precious wallet. The ticket that Kaito gave her-

Shit.

The ticket.

Kaito.

Aoko spun her head towards the clock on the wall and what came out from her throat sounded like someone's dying breath.

It was already 7:30pm.

She broke into a run.

That was right! She knocked off early today and was supposed to go home, take a good shower, get into a nice dress- _AND_ meet Kaito for the comedy show tonight! That was the plan! And everything was all ruined because of this robbery- _UGH!_ She slipped through the small gap of the automation door just before it closed and dashed towards the nearest bus stop. It must be Heaven pitying on her since the bus she needed to take arrived at the stop just in time, and fortunately, as well, there was enough loose coins in her jeans to cover the money for her ride. All that was left was to pray for the driver to drive a bit less slower than it already was.

Once the bus reached the stop where she needed to alight to get to the promised theatre hall, she sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her across the concrete pavement. Panting and heaving the hell out of her life, her eyes darted past the stairs of doom she had to overcome to see the entrance door.

 _Damn it._ She grudgingly groaned in her head and was about to take her first stride when she noticed a figure sitting in the middle of the flight of steps.

She couldn't believe what she saw; it was none other than the black tousled-haired man she thought she wouldn't see, at least not right here and now. One of his hands was fumbling around with his phone while the other was resting against his chin. His eyes were staring straight ahead, distant and _blue_ , the cold and lonely kind of blue. It had been ages since she had exercised and she hadn't even caught her breath after running all the way from the bus stop, but she wasn't going to stop. Her feet operated like how she wanted and climbed, even when the muscles at the back of her thighs were starting to scream in pain. It seemed her loud and clumsy figure instantly caught Kaito's attention as he moved his head towards her direction and stood up from his temporary seat once he registered she was here. He did his part to close the distance, his long legs shuffled down the steps in seconds.

"And there I was wondering if you've changed your number because you're pregnant." He drawled and pushed his phone into the back of his pants' pocket. The voice that spoke next suddenly turned into a vast contrast to his usual snarky tone. Serious and very calm. "I thought something happened to you."

They were standing on the same platform, and like usual, Aoko had to tilt up her head to look into his eyes since he was half a head taller than her. But before she could say anything, she brushed a fringe that was stuck to her sticky forehead aside, unintentionally revealing her bandaged wrist.

"Wait," Kaito frowned ominously. "Don't tell me I'm right."

"The thing is, you're always right." Aoko licked her dry lips, feeling a sweat trickled into one of her eyes. It was salty and painful.

He scrutinized her for a moment. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm sorry. I'm not just late, I screwed up again. I-" She lowered her head and choked back on a sob that had been hurting her throat since forever. "I lost the ticket. My phone too. Everything was supposed to be fine, but I got robbed this late afternoon and my handbag was gone. The ticket was inside, I'm sor-"

Aoko felt her shoulders being seized. She dazedly looked up, her eyes blinking away the tears that fogged up her sight and now, she had a clear view of Kaito's watchful eyes scanning over her.

"Have you reported to the police?" He peered down at her wrist. "Is that why your hand is injured? What did he do to you? Are you hurt anywhere else? Did he use a knife?" He took her arm and gently pulled it up to take a better look at her bandage. "You didn't fight off the robber, right? Please tell me you didn't."

"... Which question am I supposed to answer first?"

"All of it." He stated solemnly.

Aoko explained from the beginning till the end, that there wasn't any violence or bloodshed and her sprained wrist was the only thing she gained besides losing her belongings. And then again, like always, she apologized.

"I've wasted your tickets." She stared at the theater building, her lips turned downwards. "You should've at least gone in to watch the show."

"How meaningless is that?" Kaito scoffed and she thought she saw his tensed shoulders slackened. He ran a hand through his hair, preparing himself to blurt out the next sentence. "What's important is that you're alright."

It had been a pity. Aoko glanced at the building again and let out a desolate sigh. She wasn't sure if she was upset just because she had missed the show she was looking forward to for the whole week, then again, she thought it suddenly didn't matter to her. Maybe to Kaito, what was important was that she was fine. But to her, what was important was that he was still here, waiting for her despite the fact that she was late and uncontactable.

He didn't leave her. He didn't gave up waiting for her.

He was worried about her.

"Instead of idling here, let's go somewhere else." Kaito prompted and walked down the remaining steps to reach the pavement, abruptly breaking her thoughts.

Aoko blinked in wonderment and followed behind him. She was actually expecting the night to end and both of them to head home; There was no reason for them to hang out anyway. "Where can we go?"

"Have you eaten?"

She shook her head and shook it a second time. "I don't have the appetite."

Kaito paused in his tracks and considered for a moment before pointing at a direction that Aoko had no clue where it was supposed to be. "Let me bring you to a place." He trudged with slow steady steps, occasionally glancing at her feet. She knew what his actions meant and decided to clear his doubts by shaking both ankles and assuring the only thing she sprained was her wrist. He didn't say a word and continued to lead.

He brought her to a small garden she'd never noticed before, though one couldn't blame her when she hadn't got the time to visit parks or even jog. There were a few kids at the playground and a bunch of couple taking romantic strolls. Aoko wondered if anyone would mistake them as one too. She then took the wiser route of crushing the irrelevant thought like a bug.

She was debating with herself if she should ask him about where they were going when he suddenly stopped in the middle of a plaza, where a huge fountain was situated right at the spot. Its water sprouted beautifully into the sky and fell back like the shape of an umbrella into the massive ceramic bowl, which contained the clear water and coins ranging from rusty to brand new silver ones.

"It's pretty." Aoko wondered aloud and stood next to Kaito to get a better view.

"What is the colour of water?"

"Um, transparent?" She was too busy staring in awe to understand the meaning of Kaito's random question.

"Wrong. No wonder you only teach math."

Her little enchantment ended as she sent a scowl over his direction. "Then what's the answer? Mr. Know-It-All."

One side of his lips slightly tugged upwards. "It's purple."

His response was completely off that it took her back by surprise. "Huh?"

With a simple snap of his finger, the entire fountain turned to the very colour he just said. Aoko's eyes flew to the purple lights illuminating each specks of water droplets and she thought the fountain looked similarly, in the shape and colour, like an orchid blooming in spring.

"What the... Hazelnut." She gaped at the delightful scene, unable to speak any further as her eyes did all the work in being mesmerized by the beauty.

"Mummy, look! The fountain turned purple!"

"Wow! Did you see that?"

There were many squeals and elations erupting from behind. A crowd had gathered and Aoko glanced at them over her shoulder, noticing how their face were all lit with pure excitement. It was hard not to mirror those expressions.

"What's your favourite colour?" He suddenly asked.

Aoko blinked at him. "You're kidding me, right?"

He waited for her answer.

It must be _real_ magic since he _did_ already use her originally favourite colour to light up this fountain. Now that purple was not an option, she didn't know what to reply until something struck her mind. Instead of her favourite colour, she'd decided to choose Kaito's. On top of that, it was also the first thing she thought when she glimpsed at his eyes too.

"Blue."

"Blue." He began nodding, as if she had passed a test she didn't know she was taking. "Alright, I want you to tell yourself tomorrow will be a better day."

Her eyes twitched as she stared at him in disbelief. "... What?"

"Come on. Do it." Kaito pointed at the fountain. "It isn't going to change colour on its own."

"It did when you snap your finger." She blabbered.

"Exactly." He gave a pointed look. "And that's the instruction you need to do for it to turn into blue."

Aoko winced and glanced down at her shoes. It wasn't even her gut feeling. In all her life, it had been confirmed that no tomorrow would ever be a better day for her. "Must I really say that? It's pointless."

Kaito took a step closer and nudged her in the shoulder playfully. "You'd never know until you try."

She contemplated for a long while, her eyes drifting unwillingly to Kaito's. Like magic, it worked wonders in attempts to persuade her to agreeing by around 80 percent. _Might as well_ , Aoko finally sighed to herself. After the effort he had put in to perform the first act, it would be a bummer if it wasn't completed. Besides, she still felt like she owed him for being unable to see the comedy show. The least she could do was to humor him. She took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily. "Tomorrow will be a better day."

"Louder." Kaito urged. "More energy in it."

"Tomorrow will be a better day." She mumbled.

"I'm pretty sure I've heard better than this, especially when you called me Kudo Shinichi and accus-"

"Tomorrow will be a better day!" Aoko exclaimed to her fullest potential.

As if the trigger had been activated, the fountain magically turned into blue on the exact cue once she finished her sentence. Purple orchid was now outdated. The fountain looked like a blue rose radiating under the moonlight. Mystical and unique. It was a sight to behold.

All the _ohhs_ and _ahhs_ were drowned away in the background as Aoko murmured, loud enough for only Kaito to hear. "It's really, _really_ pretty." Maybe her favourite colour was blue after all.

He simply displayed a triumphant smile. "Glad you like it. And tomorrow will definitely be a better day."

"I don't know, but I think it might be, thanks to you." She bit her lower lip and glanced to her side, towards Kaito. Her eyes were wavering under the light. "I'm the one spoiling things and you're the one making them right."

"I would've made things _right_ if I can turn back time to prevent that robbery, but I couldn't." He averted his gaze to look at the fountain. "I didn't make anything right, but this is the least I can do to cheer you up."

"Kaito..." It suddenly felt weird to speak his name, like the way it made her tongue curl brought strange effects to her chest, again.

"We can always see a comedy show another time if there's anoth-"

"No," She cut in firmly. "I'll rather see your magic shows."

He stared at her, almost amused. "Oh? Because you're impressed by my skills?"

It had always been the plan once Ran told her Kaito was a magician, though she never had the chance to say and tell him all along. And now this was it, she pretended to take the bait that had been swung towards her. "Isn't that great? One more audience for you."

"My seats are always filled up." He informed dully.

"Or I can be your assistant." The pain on her wrist had been long forgotten as she gleefully patted her chest. "But in a much more professional way. You know, with the sexy bunny tuxedo costume and all."

It was too late for her to realize the crap that had come out from her mouth, at least not until Kaito began snorting through his nose. "I didn't know you have such a sensual taste. Are you earnestly interested in wearing the costume?"

"Forget it." Aoko spat and deliberately turned to watch the fountains. Maybe she should have chosen red since it might be able to hide the blush that had tinted her cheeks. She forced herself not to look his way, but in the pit of stomach, she knew he was smirking at her.

The night ended well with Aoko's improved appetite and Kaito's dinner treat.

On the next (better) day, she woke up fresh and early to get her breakfast and newspaper. She temporary ignored all the news and flipped to the page of the daily horoscope. Based on her unlucky robbery incident yesterday, she should have stopped believing in these senseless things, but thinking back about how it all lead to that colourful night, it seemed her horoscope wasn't all that wrong as well. Although it wasn't something as amazing as her _life's best changing point_ , it was still a new change;

Thinking was supposed to be done in the head. But whenever she started to think of Kaito, somehow, her heart responded instead of her brain.

.o.

To give Aoko some credit, she wasn't _always_ the embarrassing one for all the mishap and misunderstanding she'd created. But of course, in comparison, Aoko still won the championship of being the _joke_ between the two of them.

It occurred during Cheiko's birthday, which was organized on a yacht and floating in the middle of the sea. Everything went perfectly smooth, with all the great games and nice food, but there was only one disruption due to the missing performer, who was supposed to conduct his promised magic show after the scheduled fishing game (the birthday girl had won after she caught one that was as long as her arm). Shinichi was on the verge of suspecting if someone had thrown Kaito off the yacht since the latter couldn't be found anywhere, but Chieko argued this must be part of the magic show. The very magician had disappeared on board.

 _As if_. Aoko, who was also invited to the party, decided to look for Kaito even though everyone was almost convinced with Chieko's remark. It really wasn't difficult to find him, thanks to his not-so-small body built. He was sitting at the corner of the empty kitchen floor, arms wrapping his knees to his chest. It was weird how no one noticed him, yet Aoko found him instantly when she wasn't really trying at all.

"What are you doing here? Everyone is waiting for your magic show." Aoko put her hands on her hips and stared down at him. "Don't tell me you've got stage fright. I've seen you performed so many times."

He remained silent and continued to squeeze himself tightly into a ball.

When she knew she wasn't going to get an answer, she slid down against the wall and sat next to him, her curiosity was shelved aside and replaced with a sense of worry. "Um, are you alright? You look a bit pale."

It took a while for him to admit. "I'm not feeling well." He muttered.

"Seasick?" Aoko pointed to the cabinets. "I'm pretty sure there's some medicines for that."

"It's not it." He shook his head, eyes still closed and brows were furrowed. "That previous game. Those stuff. I can't stand it."

"You mean the fishing-

"No."

"But the previous game is the fis-"

" _No_ , don't say that word." He groaned and rubbed his temple. "It makes me ill."

"Ill?" How could someone be ill just by hearing the word fish? It was hard to believe, but watching Kaito struggling to get his grip together, it slowly dawned upon her that it wasn't a joke. He had a serious case of ichthyophobia.

She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, trying to stifle a laugher once she knew the truth. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't be laughing at someone's phobia but- But this is the last thing I expect you to be afraid of."

Kaito didn't bother to respond. Like an unconscious revenge, he shifted his posture and laid his forehead onto her shoulder, shocking Aoko silent at his startling gesture. She stiffly stayed in the position, not knowing what to say until Kaito spoke.

"Give me one more minute." He muttered reluctantly. "This headache isn't going away."

"... Alright."

"And don't tell anyone else." His warm breath tickled her skin.

Finally, there was something Aoko could use to threaten Kaito when she had so much uneventful stories for him to mock her about, but seeing him like this, she couldn't bear to do it anyway. Although she wasn't sure if he could see it, she nodded to his request and moved her pinched fingers across her lips, zipping it into a thin line. "Never."

It had been one fun party.

Well, Kaito did say not to tell anyone else, and anyone else didn't include the owner of the joke. She occasionally teased and reminded him about it when they passed by a pet shop or a poster for an aquarium show, and his disgruntled face ended up being the image she registered in her brain before she headed to bed with a smile on her face. Aoko did try to help him to at least appreciate raw salmon and sushi, but no matter how hard she tried, he still couldn't get over it. She guessed the sushi date- DINNER. Yes. She guessed the sushi _dinner_ had to be struck out of the list of things she intended to do with him, despite it being one of her favourite food hangouts.

But fish wasn't the only thing Aoko saw Kaito being _not-Kaito_ about.

She happened to find that out on one of their dates- MEETUPS. Yes. On one of their _meetups_ , she'd decided to give him one out of the pair of tickets she had won to the newly opened ice rink in town for entering in an instant-win lucky draw while shopping for groceries at the local supermarket. Keiko had a leg injury last year and wasn't very keen in the sport and Ran was currently too busy helping out at her mother's lawyer firm. The third person Aoko could think of was Kaito.

And after explaining about the whole ordeal to why she had the free tickets _and_ why she was asking him out with it, he only gave a pained smile.

"I guess the only way around this is to cling onto the positive fact that I'm the third person you think about?"

She rolled her eyes at his egoistic words.

It seemed she'd mistaken the _true meaning_ behind Kaito's pained smile. For the next hour at the ice rink, Aoko spent most of the time laughing at his remarkable stunts of trying not to fall rather than doing her actual skating. And out of guilt, she decided to buy some band aids for all of his cuts and bruises from the trusty supermarket, but eventually ended up getting herself into yet another chance at the instant-win lucky draw.

Aoko won the same tickets again (Kaito had come to a conclusion that the stupid lucky draw was all about promoting the ice rink. Seeing him so annoyed about this whole conspiracy and that he wasn't even _able_ to skate in the first place, she told him she would be asking the _fourth_ person to go with her. Instead of complying, he snatched one of the tickets and told her _see you next week_ ).

Besides sleeping with a smile on her face, it was a fun memory for her to laugh in the shower for no good reason too.

.o.

 _Pre-Christmas Sales! Storewide Discounts!_

For once, Aoko couldn't care less about those fancy discount, not at the moment when the gift she was intending to buy was supposed to be meaningful and not simply because she wanted to keep her budget in check. There was still more than a week before Christmas, but she was going to meet Kaito two days later since he would be flying off at the end of the week for a Christmas tour held at several tropical countries, where they experienced sun and heat all year round (Her idea about knitting a pair of gloves for him was then thrown to the back of her mind). It was a bit disheartening to think that he wouldn't be in Japan on the real day itself (not like she was hoping for any mistletoe magic or whatever stupid thing like that oh my gosh), but an early celebration wasn't that bad too either. She would be going back to her old hometown to visit her dad on Christmas anyways.

Now, instead of worrying about how she wouldn't be seeing Kaito for Christmas, she was already facing a problem. Aoko had a plan on what to buy for all her friends and families, but for Kaito, she had no idea what to get for him, even after when she had been standing in the store for the past fifteen minutes and flipping through the bunch of free catalogues that were placed near the entrance.

"Nakamori?"

Surprised, she glanced to the voice until her eyes laid upon the blonde that was standing a distance away. Her mouth hung open for a long while and she only blurted out the word "Hakuba!" after she managed to untie the knot on her tongue.

The said man raised his left hand as a greeting, the shiny wedding ring on his finger glinted at Aoko's eyes. She wasn't sure if this was a mockery from fate, but it didn't matter to her anymore anyway. Ignoring those withered feelings, she beamed and watched him make his way towards her.

"It's been long," Hakuba initiated the start of the conversation. "How have you been?"

"Great. The same old thing. Living and all." Aoko shrugged kiddingly. "What about you? Why are you here? When did you come back from Britain?"

"Busy. It's just a two days business trip and I'm taking tonight's flight back." He pointed at the escalator behind Aoko's shoulder. "I'm heading to the ladies department to buy some stuff for my wife."

Best husband award. "For Christmas?"

"Just a simple souvenir." Hakuba smiled before tilting his head with mild puzzlement. "By the way, what are you doing here? This is the men's department."

"Uh," Currently surrounded by a bunch of racks filled with men's shirts and jeans, Aoko lifted the catalogue she had been hiding behind her back and showed it to Hakuba. There was no reason to hide the truth anyway. "I'm standing by here until I think of a gift to purchase."

"Oh." His mouth turned to the shape of an O and it remained like that for a few seconds. Aoko wasn't sure what that gesture was supposed to mean. Was it a growing custom in Britain?

"You've looked a lot much happier now." He added randomly.

Her face changed into a quizzical look. "Happier?" She responded with genuine interest.

"I may not be a good person to judge, but from all those times I've last seen you, this is your best." Hakuba smirked, one eye almost closing to become a cheeky wink. With the confidence in his tone, even Aoko was starting to believe she was indeed happier, and _that_ was the weirdest part. Was she not happy before? Had she always been so depressing? It didn't take a second to pass for her to conclude in her head that yes, she indeed was depressing, with her low-self esteem problems and all. But now...

"Thanks. I guess you're right." In all honesty, Aoko had no idea what _right_ she was even referring about, but she presumed she'd find out about it sooner or later. She _hoped._

Hakuba smiled thoughtfully, luckily clueless to her real inner thoughts. "That's great to hear."

She fiddled with her thumb, suddenly feeling utterly self-conscious. It was weird to have her life analyzed like that. If this conversation happened three years ago, Aoko might giggle to her death for thinking how Hakuba had noticed her. For now, she just wanted to buy her gift and see Kaito as soon as possible-

It was then when Aoko realized she could use this opportunity to ask for help. She flipped through the catalogue absently and tilted it over to Hakuba. "I'm buying a present for a friend and I'm wondering if you have any suggestions."

Hakuba's eyes lowered to the brochure. "For Christmas?"

"Yeah," Aoko nodded her head in glee and stepped just a bit closer over to let him have a better look through the choices. "I was thinking of a tie or a belt, but there was something unpleasantly embarrassing about buying apparels that we, or rather _I_ had in the past." _Wear this tonight and whip me hard with it. Oh gross. Not that memory._ "He recently changed his wallet too so I guess it wouldn't be wise to buy one." Aoko slumped her shoulders, despondent by her ultimate dead end. "I don't know what else to get."

He didn't even bat an eyelid. "How about perfume?"

Aoko's face lit up and she instantly flipped to the page where all the different brands of cologne were advertised. She felt her cheeks numbed from smiling too wide at all the choices she was spoilt for. "Why hadn't I thought of this? Silly me."

"That friend of yours must have smelt good for you to not think about it." Hakuba casually inputted.

"Yeah, you're righ-" Aoko's face fell and spun her head to stare at the smirking blonde, her neck almost snapped with the speed she used to turn. "Uh, no. I mean-"

"I can recommend this." Hakuba gently took the catalogue from her hand and flicked passed the pages while Aoko took the time for her flushed cheeks to turn back to its original colour. "I've been using this brand since many years ago. It's good."

Aoko managed to bite her lips together, luckily saving herself from agreeing to his words almost too quickly and readily even though it was true. To move on from her inner struggle of embarrassment, she closed the catalogue after marking the page and thanked Hakuba once again.

He shook his head. "It's no big deal. Glad I could help."

"I shall not keep you from going." Aoko playfully shooed him away. "You said your flight is tonight right? Don't waste your time on me."

"It's never a waste of time on you," Hakuba glimpsed at his watch and gritted his teeth. "Although yes, I think I shall take my leave to buy the gift. Will suggest for a reunion party soon if I come back to Japan again." He squeezed her shoulder in a reassuring manner before taking large steps around her and departing towards the escalator.

She watched him go, until he stopped on his track and whirled around, cupping both hands around his mouth to focus his voice better at her.

"Whatever that is making you happy, keep it."

Aoko blinked. Her life had always been the same since forever, so what was she supposed to keep? Not wanting to stall Hakuba's time anymore, she quickly shouted back "I will." in order for him to go and settle his things.

Seeming to be satisfied with her response, he was willing to let his back face her and march off. Aoko only looked away once his figure was gone.

 _Happy. Happy. Happy._

She focused on the catalogue and flipped past all the pages until she reached her marked page. Good. All she needed to do now was to find where the hell was the cologne's section in this large department store.

.o.

It was agreed in their text messages that they would be meeting under the humongous set-up Christmas Tree, just next to the mall they often enjoyed their ice mocha at; the same place they were _properly_ introduced to each other. Aoko had checked the message for the sixth time, making sure she hadn't got the time or the place wrong. Yeap. She was right, but she would check the text again three minutes later if Kaito hadn't arrived yet-

"Hey."

Aoko spun around in her grey coat and knee-length floral dress and faced the man, knowing it by heart who it was just from hearing his voice. Under the Christmas Tree and its lights, everything suddenly seemed to dim when Kaito appeared in her sight. He was also donned in a similar but buttoned up brown coat and a long pants that were tucked at the end inside his boots. He then raised a bag he had been carrying in his hand and strung the string handles onto her gloved fingers.

"Kaito-?"

"This is your gift." He merely said.

She curiously peeked inside the bag and decided to find the answer to her inner questions the quicker way by taking out the gift. Her fingers crept inside the bag and she felt something soft before pulling the bundle of _stuff_ out. She blinked, and blinked a couple of times again as she dropped the bag on the floor to spread out the long, blue and embroidered woollen scarf in her gloved hands. It was obvious from one look that it wasn't made out from a factory machine. It could've have been, when the zigs zags and messy patterns were all uniquely out of place. It couldn't have been, when there were so many mistakes and wrong holes the needles had went through. It couldn't have been sold anywhere in stores, unless it was from the defect pile. _But_ it couldn't have been from the defect pile either, when the wool was of good quality and every thread of it was clean and new.

It _couldn't_ have been anything; besides it being hand-made.

But still, despite all the answers shouting at her face, it took a long while for it to be registered into her mind. Aoko gasped after three seconds had passed.

"Y-You knitted this scarf?"

"Uh. Yeah." Kaito continued muttering under his breath and looked down at his boots intensively, as if the floor was made out of gold. "I don't know what you girls like other than receiving hand-made stuff."

"How did you...?" She began flipping the scarf around in amazement. "This must be so much work."

"Found some simple tutorials online." He managed a nonchalant shrug. "It was fine."

Aoko giggly wrapped the blue scarf around her neck. She had to curl it twice to fully cover her collar, though her coat had actually done the job for her. The scarf wasn't much of a use or fulfilling its functions and purpose, but with the presence of it, Aoko found it more than enough to keep her warm. Not physically _but_ magically. Her chest and heart had grown warm enough by the thought and sincerity of it to make her immune to the cold.

Kaito was observing her with narrowed eyes, his brows were nearly merging. "Is it too thin for you?"

"It's fine!" She exclaimed quickly. "I like it this way so I can use it for next autumn too." It wasn't a lie.

He regarded her with heavy skepticism but decided to move on to his next question. "Your favourite colour is blue right?" He tentatively asked for confirmation.

Aoko beamed and nodded her head enthusiastically. For this moment, she had declared purple to be officially dead. Blue was what she needed in life. Even if the blue scarf didn't match the colour of her grey coat or the patterns of her floral dress, even if she would be claimed as a mini fashion disaster on the streets, she wouldn't care at all.

"Thank you for this. I really appreciate it." Aoko said with the sincerest tone she could ever muster in her whole life.

Kaito simply waved a hand distractingly. "With that done, I wish you an advance Merry Christmas." All the marks of worries and doubts were washed away from his features, a bright smile had taken back its rightful place again.

"Ah, and same to you!" Aoko took bag she bought for Kaito and shoved it nearly into his chest. She plopped it onto the palm of his hands when she knew he was ready to catch it if she dropped it. "Here's your present."

Kaito inspected the bag for a moment before rummaging through it and glanced at her after failing to find whatever he was looking for. His eyes twinkled under the light. "No greeting card?"

Aoko rolled her eyes. "No."

He dramatized a sad look and finally focused on the main content. His eyes widened by a fraction and it didn't miss Aoko's eyes. A surge of dread filled her lungs and she took in one large breath and managed a whisper. All sorts of worst-case scenarios flooded her mind with automation. "Are you allergic to cologne? Do you already have lots of colognes? Do you hate this-"

"No- No." Kaito answered quickly and his eyes grew distant all of the sudden. She wished she could see what he was reminiscing about, with how composed and peaceful he looked then. His attention finally landed back on her after a few seconds of silence. "It's just that this brand of cologne had once created some interesting memories for me."

"Oh." What could a bottle of perfume do to make him like _that_? Aoko was extremely interested, but she wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to think about how he had shared some wonderful moments with someone else other than her...

"Before you, there's another woman who'd specially taken the title of a drunk terminator." Kaito continued, a wry smile taken over his features. "So maybe you don't have to be disheartened that you're the only crazy one in this world."

The phrase _one of a kind_ that Ran quoted from Kaito's words suddenly rung in her head. Her eyes casted down at the bag and she pondered over her silly, wistful thinking that she was the only _drunk terminator_ in Kaito's life. Even if it was a negative term, she thought that title was only for her. He was the only _mustard_ she ever had in her life after all.

"What's the story?" Aoko pressed her lips into a shape of a grin and forced herself to look straight into Kaito's eyes. "I want to know how crazy she was, compared to me."

Kaito rubbed his chin and seemed almost lost in thought again until he spoke. "It happened probably around two or nearly three years ago at a club. She was singing a bunch of sad songs and dancing on the floor." He paused for a moment before he cringed, possibly at the memory.

"Must be bad." Aoko followed his expression.

He snorted. "It was the wrong tune the entire time."

Aoko bit her lips and shook her head in pity. "Now I'm pretty sure I've got a rival."

"The story isn't even half done."

She nodded, prompting him to continue. It didn't even matter if they were standing almost in the middle of the streets and being part of the background of many people who were taking selfies or photos of the Christmas Tree. It seemed rude and inconsiderate, but she was too busy being intrigued in Kaito's animated face to care about anything else.

"Because of an unfortunate bump, she started clinging onto me like I was her life," Kaito heaved out a sigh. "She almost threw up on me, but I brought her to a restroom just in time before the horror happened."

"Not bad," Aoko chuckled. "You have fast reflex."

"Pity that I didn't have one when you stepped in to slap me all of the sudden and splash-"

"OK. _Moving_ on with the story."

He showed his clean set of teeth until it faded away and his mouth formed a thin line. "She's heartbroken. I guess. I don't know what's wrong with her and she started ranting about my cologne." He lifted the bag slightly, his eyes softened. "The same brand as this. She said it was also worn by _him_. And that I wasn't allowed to wear _his_ cologne, just because."

 _Why?_

 _Why does this..._

 _Why does this feel so familiar?_

For some _reasons_ that Aoko wished she could just ignore, her face was growing numb _with fear_. The past images of how she splashed the beer onto Kaito's face, weirdly, didn't appear in her vision. Something else did. Something even terrible.

Foggy. Foggy memories. But...

But there were blue eyes.

Aoko raised her head sharply and caught Kaito's gaze, the same(!)pair of blue eyes were staring back at her. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she urged all her nerves cells to creak her mouth open. "Just because," her throat had turned dry. "Just because your eyes weren't amber."

Kaito arched an eyebrow and it was that instant when Aoko witnessed the way his pupils dilated and her lips parted open, so slowly as though time had stood still.

"You..." He breathed out.

Aoko gulped. "Don't tell me the club happened to be at-"

"-Nakano district?" He raised a hand and covered one of his eyes, while the other was surveying her carefully and intensely that she would've blushed if she wasn't already red in the face. "The club was called-"

She groaned. "Heavy-"

"Sick-" Kaito continued.

-Zero." They finished the last word together, so beautifully they could have entered the Olympics for how synchronized they were.

"I can't believe this." Aoko snuggled her face into the warmth of the scarf before she timidly peeped at him, while inwardly praying for an angel to let her see some light out of this horrible truth. "This is not real."

Instead of an angel, Kaito's eyes lit up Aoko's hellhole for her. It was the sign of his signature chortles coming in three, two...

His strong, heartfelt laugh almost reached the other end of the plaza. A tickling feeling started unfurling in Aoko's chest as her eyes were glued instantaneously at his minimum attempts to cease his laughter. She would hit him in the shoulder with embarrassment, if she wasn't busy wondering what was so special about his melodic voice now.

"I'm sorry, or not so sorry actually." Kaito let out a huge breath but a snuffle came behind as well. "I can't believe this too. But like I've said before; when it's you, it seemed all quite believable too. It's really conflicting for me."

Aoko sent a withering look and crossed her arms. "You don't have to feel conflicted. You don't even have to _feel_. You jerk." She wanted to be angry, but then again, she really couldn't when the only one to blame was no one but herself. She uncrossed her arm to rubbed a hand over the back of her neck, completely chastened. "Well, it happened so long ago. Forgive and forget?"

"I've never once blame you," Kaito was on full alert his past cheerful demeanor was all gone within a blink. "Though about the forgetting part, I think it'll be hard."

"At least forget about how my voice sucks."

"But that's one of the best part."

"Stop. _Stop teasing me._ " Aoko covered her ears and shivered, though not due to the cold. With her voice she was so-called famous for, she sang out with her lungs. "One, two, three four, five! Once I caught a fish alive!"

"You've sung that bloody song for a thousand times that I've grown immune to the word _fish_ already." Kaito scorned.

There was no way Aoko was going to lose this battle. Since a long time ago, she had gained enough confidence to embrace the fact that she was a funny fool in public rather than being all meek about it. And especially if Kaito was her partner for that moment, she was much more unsusceptible to people's judging murmurs or look (His reaction mattered to her much more than anyone else).

And so, Aoko replied his meaningless remark with an even louder voice until everyone's heads were turned towards them. "Six, seven, eight, nine-!

"Alright, Ahouko!" Kaito tugged one of her hands down, forcing her to shut up as he glanced past his shoulders to look at all the curious onlookers staring their direction. "I promise I'm not going to tease you anymore."

Satisfied, she grinned and stuck out a tongue.

"Geez." Kaito shook his head, that special tiny smile that he always cautiously hid from her appeared for a brief moment. "How old are you again?"

She merely sniffed in response and wrapped her gift tighter around her neck. There would be no end to the pointless argument if she retorted something silly back. Instead, she focused on the main topic again. "I'd always thought it's just a dream and was hoping that it is too." Aoko sucked a breath through clenched teeth. Feeling apologetic towards Kaito for all these moments was like matching a plate of soy sauce with sushi, normal and routine. She finally settled for a grateful look, a change she thought Kaito might appreciate better. "But since it's a reality, thanks anyway. For what happened back then."

"Then I'll thank you for this," Kaito raised the bag and his smile faded, just a little bit. "That _amber eyes_ guy. How's he?" He added, with a very slight hesitation in his voice.

"He's fine, I guess." Aoko pursed her lips. There was no way in hell she was going to tell him it was Hakuba who suggested the perfume buying idea. It would be hella awkward.

"You guess?"

"He's married and leads a happy life," she explained randomly and shrugged. "His wife is pretty and refine. Unlike me."

"Uh," Kaito scratched the side of his cheek. "You don't have to say that."

"That he's married?"

"That his wife is unlike you. Pretty and refine." He regarded her with an expression that looked similar to concern, though from all the previous encounters, Aoko knew his words and actions were often an opposite of it. But for once, this time, his softened features remained the same, as well as the tone he used to speak before. "You're one of a kind, too."

It certainly sounded and meant so much when she heard those exact words coming out from his lips rather than from someone else. She had been blushing so much this evening that she hoped she wasn't going to burst a blood vessel. And... How was she going to reply to that?!

"That's very comforting." She concluded to herself and decided to make it all out as a joke. "But I'm already over it. Over him. It's been so long."

Kaito flicked his gaze from the bag to her. "Does that means I'm _allowed_ to wear _his_ cologne now?"

Aoko was about to ask what the hell he was talking about when realization dawned upon her. Her eyes twitched in agony and she felt like she drinking the whole bottle of cologne to forget this memory. "Um, you are a-allowed t-to use his-" Defeated, she wiped a hand down her face because she couldn't continue this moment of shame, even if her life had been living like that the entire time. "I thought you said you're not going to tease me anymore."

He shook his head, his straight face still in place. "It's a serious question though."

"Well, it's not like _he_ owned the brand." Aoko pursed her lips and reflected on her answer. Was her reply appropriate enough?

Kaito pinched the bridge of his nose and what came from out was a sigh. "How should I phrase this?"

Now Aoko was confused. Was there some kind of communication barrier here? Wasn't he just asking if he could wear the cologne? Of course he could! She bought it for him. Was it not clear enough?

Before she could say a word, he looked at her sharply and it turned her tongue upside down. Looking at the stern lines on his face, she wondered how she once thought of him as cheerful and comical.

"Being allowed to wear this cologne, it means I'll be attracting you and playing with your senses," Kaito glanced away and Aoko was probably the first lucky one to see the way one of his hands started to shake before he slid it into his pocket. "I will have the rights to break your heart too. _Not_ that I will." He blabbered the last sentence as quick as he finished the first.

The only thing that Aoko knew what to do then was to breathe.

Nervous didn't fit Kaito at all, but he looked adorable with the way he was now. He swallowed hard and dared himself to speak again. "Am I entitled to all of that?"

"I-" Aoko neared choked. "Is this a confession?"

Kaito squinted his eyes and bared his teeth. "Must you really say it out?"

"I thought I needed to make sure!" She began flailing her arms around, a little lost. "Like the first time I've mistaken you for Shinichi and _that scene_ happened. I don't want to create any more misunderstanding again."

"Now you know." He straightened his posture and looked like he was preparing for the worst… the worst of what? "So, what's the verdict? Drunk terminator."

"Well," Aoko nervously shuffled her feet on the ground and dared herself to look into his eyes. It was a huge struggle, but it was a better and much sensible choice than staring at his lips. "I've grown to have this habit of adding mustard to my hot dog bun."

He didn't bother to hide his confusion. "What is that supposed to mean? Wait, do you even like hot dog bun in the first place? Or is hot dog bun another term for some word or something?"

"Must you make things so obvious?" She squealed. Her heart was beating so fast in her chest that it could burst out any moment.

"How is this obvious?" Kaito slapped a hand on his face to control another laughing spree that was about to come. "Does that mean I'm right? I can't believe you actually compared your feelings with a hot dog bun."

"You did the same thing with the weird perfume analogy!"

"I give up." His fingers slowly crawled up her arm and moved up her spine, gently pulling her into his chest as she let herself fall straight into his embrace. "You win."

Her hands did its part and shuffled its way up his broad back. "You've experienced the worst of me, don't you feel repulsed by it?" Despite the closeness, she'd phrased her words rather ironically.

"If I've experienced the worst of you, what else do I have to fear?"

"You'll never know." She hummed into his shoulder and inwardly shuddered at the possibility of all the things that could happen. "I don't even know myself."

"It doesn't matter to me," Kaito hugged her tighter, in an alluring comfort Aoko never knew existed as he mumbled into her hair, but his words were the clearest thing she'd ever hear. "For everything that happened, it'll be an addition to the list of memories to share with our future grandchildren."

"Don't even try."

"We'll see about that."

If they continued to stay in their position any longer, she could've imprinted her smile onto the collar of his coat.

.end.

* * *

 **A/n: (To: guess, I hope this chapter answers your questions hehe)**  
 **Thank you all for your kind support! Hopefully the last instalment was worth the wait.  
See u guys around, if calculus hadn't killed me first. And anyway... how does a college!Au sound? *crosses fingers***


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